Following the figures ahead, Li Yan ascended the stairs, guided by a faint, lingering fragrance. Soon, he arrived at the main hall of the second floor. A quick glance revealed a layout identical to the first floor, but with significantly fewer customers, making it much quieter. They did not linger in the hall; under Su Hong's lead, they proceeded toward a side parlor.
"This second floor is only accessible to those at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment or higher. The first floor is for cultivators from the Qi Condensation stage to the early stage of Foundation Establishment. They arrange Magical Treasures and Medicinal Pills of different grades on different floors according to cultivation realm. I hear the third floor is reserved for those at the Pseudo-Core Realm and above. I've only ever been on the first floor myself. To think Senior Brother Wen could actually come up to the second floor." Just as Li Yan was pondering this, Lin Daqiao's voice reached him at the perfect moment, as if he had been paying constant attention to Li Yan. This prompted Li Yan to turn and look at Lin Daqiao, a flash of gratitude in his eyes.
Li Yan had noticed some discrepancies earlier. On the first floor, he had mostly seen high-grade Spirit Artifacts and Spirit Treasures. While there were some Magical Artifacts and Magical Treasures, they were all common goods. Having witnessed the treasures of the Foundation Establishment masters and demonic cultivators from the four great sects in the Secret Realm, he could now roughly distinguish their quality. His brief scan of the first floor had already revealed some insights.
Now, after hearing Lin Daqiao's explanation, understanding dawned on Li Yan, and he found himself agreeing. It wasn't that low-level cultivators couldn't be wealthy, but such individuals were exceedingly rare. Furthermore, even if a low-level cultivator bought a high-grade Magical Artifact or Treasure far beyond their realm, they typically lacked the ability to wield it, so no one would buy one merely for display. It was just like when Li Yan tried to control Miao Zhengyi's flying swords. Those three hundred-plus swords were all of the Magical Artifact grade. Even with the profound Spirit Power refined from his True Scripture of Gui Water, which gave him one to two times the spiritual energy of his peers, he still struggled to command them and could only unleash half their potential. How much more difficult would it be for other cultivators?
Under the peculiar gazes of several cultivators on the second floor, the four of them arrived at the entrance of a side parlor. A row of six small private rooms stood before them. Su Hong stopped, the hem of her dress swaying, offering fleeting glimpses of the smooth, pale skin beneath. She turned her head, her bright eyes shimmering, and her red lips parted slightly. "Brother Wen, are your two junior brothers together, or..." Her voice trailed off as she looked at Wen Xinliang, a hint of inquiry in her smiling, pretty face.
"Separately, of course. Yes, separate is better," Wen Xinliang replied with a smile of his own, then glanced at Li Yan.
Li Yan was a little confused by the exchange. Su Hong, however, simply smiled. She raised her jade-like hands and clapped them lightly before her chest. Immediately, two voices emerged from the adjacent rooms—one gentle, the other aged. "Room C is available." "You may enter Room B!"
Su Hong turned to Lin Daqiao and Li Yan, her voice like the song of an oriole. "You two junior brothers may each take a room. I will attend to Brother Wen."
Hearing this and seeing Wen Xinliang gesture for them to proceed, Li Yan finally understood. Beside him, Lin Daqiao had already cupped his hands in a salute to Su Hong. He turned to Li Yan with a light laugh. "Little Junior Brother, let's act separately. See you in a bit." With that, he winked at Li Yan and walked directly to the first room from which the voice had sounded. With a gentle push of the door, he slipped inside.
Li Yan rubbed his nose, offered a salute to the smiling Su Hong and Wen Xinliang, and walked toward the other room.
Behind him, Su Hong's soft laughter could be heard. "Brother Wen, this way please. It seems you must have recently visited the Hundred Thousand Mountains..." The two of them then turned, pushed open a door, and entered one after the other. The moment the door closed, their voices vanished completely.
As Li Yan walked forward, he thought to himself, 'Each of these small rooms has a formation restriction to isolate the auras within and block Divine Sense from probing.' Lost in thought, he arrived before a door. Looking up, he saw the character 'C' written in the middle of the dark yellow door. The doors on either side were marked 'B' and 'D' respectively.
'So they're arranged according to the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. Senior Brother Wen entered the first room, which must be A. This likely has to do with Su Hong's status.' As he mused, Li Yan reached out and pushed the door open. With a soft creak, it swung inward.
"Please, come in, young friend," an aged voice called from within the room. It was one of the two voices from before.
Without hesitation, Li Yan stepped inside. The moment he stood firm within the room, the small door behind him shut automatically with a soft click.
The room was not large, and the light was soft. In the center of the ceiling was a bowl-sized Night-Luminous Pearl emitting a gentle white glow. It was the first time Li Yan had ever seen one so large. In the Mortal Realm, such a pearl would be an heirloom treasure, something only royalty could possess. But in the cultivation world, an object like this, devoid of spiritual energy, was at best a mere decoration.
A wide desk was positioned directly opposite the small door. Behind it, a black-robed elder was looking at the entering Li Yan. The elder had a full head of black hair, but his face was weathered by time. A flicker of surprise vanished from his eyes as quickly as it appeared. Seeing Li Yan looking around after entering, he felt a bit strange. 'Just a little fellow in the Qi Condensation stage, and clearly his first time in a place like this.'
However, the elder was a seasoned veteran. Since this person was brought up by the young miss, he would not underestimate him. Besides, he had recognized Li Yan's attire at a glance—a cultivator of the Malevolent Spirit Sect.
"Please have a seat, young friend. Then we can talk specifics," the black-robed elder said with a faint smile, gesturing toward a chair in front of the desk with a warm voice.
Li Yan's gaze had already swept across the room, and he now had a good grasp of the situation. 'It's just as I guessed. The private rooms in the corners of the first floor must be like this one—places for individual transactions. I imagine almost every shop in this trading city has such spaces for secret dealings. This way, whether buying or selling precious items, there's a certain degree of security.'
Li Yan withdrew his gaze. At the black-robed elder's invitation, he smiled, gently lifted the hem of his long robe, and sat down opposite him.
"Young friend, are you looking to purchase Medicinal Pills? Or perhaps cultivation secret manuals? Or maybe raw materials for artifact or pill refining? While our shop may not be the largest in the trading city, eight or nine out of ten things that other establishments have, we have here as well. And things that other establishments don't have, our shop will also have," the black-robed elder said, getting straight to the point once Li Yan was seated.
"Oh? You sell cultivation secret manuals here? I didn't notice any on the first floor," Li Yan asked, his interest piqued by the elder's words.
"Haha, you may not be aware, young friend, but ordinary cultivation manuals can be bought anywhere in this city. Displaying them would just take up space. The truly secret manuals are never put out in the open by any establishment. As long as you state your requirements, we will naturally recommend a relevant manual to you," the black-robed elder said slowly, his voice aged but gentle. He then looked at Li Yan with a burning gaze.
Li Yan nodded upon hearing this. He was only asking out of curiosity upon hearing they had cultivation manuals. He never imagined they would even sell things like that. It made him think of Strategist Ji. 'It seems the Immortal-Seeking Lineage really couldn't integrate with other cultivators back then. Otherwise, they could have just bought a manual from the trading city and wouldn't have ended up poisoned.'
Seeing Li Yan fall silent after his question, the elder calmly continued, "So, does the young friend require a cultivation manual, or..."
Li Yan glanced at the elder. He didn't need any manuals right now; he needed to figure out how to sell things. "This junior has some items I've accumulated and would like to trade them for some Spirit Stones," Li Yan said.
Hearing this, the black-robed elder's smile remained on his face, but his interest inwardly faded. 'Items from a Qi Condensation cultivator could have been sold on the first floor. Why did he have to come all the way to the second floor to waste my time? Miss Su probably felt it was inappropriate to refuse, considering the face of the Malevolent Spirit Sect and the status of his two Foundation Establishment companions. However, the higher of those two Foundation Establishment cultivators hasn't even reached the mid-stage, so they don't qualify to be on this floor either. But we still have to give them some face, given their status. After all, this is the territory of their Malevolent Spirit Sect.'
His outward demeanor remained affable, showing not a hint of impatience. Instead, he feigned a degree of interest. "Oh? In that case, please take out your items, young friend. This old man will appraise them for you, haha."
Half an incense stick's time later, Su Hong stood at the entrance on the first floor, her face as beautiful as a flower, her smile radiant. She exchanged farewells with Wen Xinliang and his two companions. "When you have time in the future, I hope the three of you will grace me with your presence for a few drinks."
"Naturally. We have other matters to attend to today, so we won't impose any longer. Farewell for now," Wen Xinliang replied agreeably, as Li Yan and Lin Daqiao also cupped their hands in parting.
As she watched the three figures walk further and further away, the smile on Su Hong's face gradually faded. Without turning back, she asked in a low voice, "Well? Did you discover anything?"
At that moment, a middle-aged man in a gray shirt and the black-robed elder stood behind her. Others, like Ying Cai, stood at a respectful distance.
Hearing Su Hong's question, the gray-shirted man took another step forward, drawing closer to her side. He then spoke in an extremely low voice, "That fair-skinned, early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, although his aura suggests he only reached the stage a few years ago, among the items he produced, it can be confirmed that they are connected to one Foundation Establishment and four Qi Condensation cultivators from the Hengshui Mi Family who went missing some time ago, as well as the eldest young master of the Wancheng Wan Family and his six cultivator guards. They may have all died at his hands, or rather, at their hands. There were four other items whose origins could not be determined."
"Oh? That is of some value. Corroborating this with the items I received, we might be able to deduce the time and place of their deaths. From there, we can map out the operational areas of the various families and sects and cross-reference it with our prior intelligence."
"Hmm, I have some other cultivators' belongings here as well. I can roughly guess their identities, which allows me to deduce which sects have issues with the Malevolent Spirit Sect. It's just that a portion of the items might belong to rogue cultivators or those who entered with concealed identities, making them impossible to identify..."
Su Hong seemed to be muttering to herself, and she let out a soft sigh at the end. "Alright, let's disperse. Go back and continue your work. Just deliver the items to my place in a while." With that, she turned and walked back into the shop.
"Miss, this old servant has also made a discovery." Just as Su Hong turned to leave, the black-robed elder behind her couldn't help but speak up in a low voice. The elder's words made Su Hong stop in her tracks. She turned to look at him, her eyes filled with surprise. Even the middle-aged man beside her, who was also about to leave, looked at the elder strangely.
Both of them knew that the black-robed elder had been dealing with a Qi Condensation cultivator. Although he was from the Malevolent Spirit Sect, the sect would never let someone like that go out for training alone. He was likely just here today to broaden his horizons and buy some low-level pills or herbs. Could it be that this was a core junior disciple of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, and Elder Liu had managed to get some information out of him?